Transparent vs Shunyata

[Steve williams]

FWIW, here is a perfect example of what I mean....


http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...acturers-section&p=53670&viewfull=1#post53670

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...bforum-Created&p=245486&viewfull=1#post245486

 

[Mobiusman]

I have both of my amps, Pass Labs X600.5, on the same 20 amp circuit, and popped the breaker early this morning. Monday I am calling the electrician to have another circuit installed, one for each amp. Of course, this means I need another Cyclops, one for each amp circuit. No way can I buy two more Typhons, one for each amp circuit.

Bud, Why not upgrade the single circuit to a 40 amp and you should be okay!

 

[BlueFox]

Bud, Why not upgrade the single circuit to a 40 amp and you should be okay!

I guess that is a possibility, but it will still require new wire and breaker. My panel is full now so I need to replace full size breakers with half size breakers. Do half-size 40 amp breakers exist? Or I could refrain from playing at ear bleed levels, but what's the point of having X600.5 amps and Magico S5 speakers if you can't occasionally rock.

It was pretty awesome watching the Pass meters bouncing around the right side of the dial, plus it sounded so good.

 

[Scott W]

Bud,

Yes there are thin or half-size 40 amp breakers available for most panels. What brand is your panel? You will need to make sure you run wire that is rated for 40 amps, probably 8 or 6, but you electrician will know. If it were me I would run two dedicated circuits(or more) with 10/2 WG(with ground) romex, use some nice receptacles(Oyaide, Wattgate 381's, Hubbell 5362) and go with 20 amp breakers.

Scott

 

[LL21]

Which model/version of Transparent speaker cable retails around $4k for 2m?

Looks like Ultra MM2 is around $3K for 8', and the Reference Series starts at around $6K for an 8' pair I think. Do not know how much less if any a 6.5' (2m) pair would be. Their retail price list on their website if you wish to go thru it.

 

[PeterA]

Looks like Ultra MM2 is around $3K for 8', and the Reference Series starts at around $6K for an 8' pair I think. Do not know how much less if any a 6.5' (2m) pair would be. Their retail price list on their website if you wish to go thru it.

There is also a considerable difference in price between balanced and single ended cables.

 

[PeterA]

Peter

of course there is interest and it is being discussed daily here at WBF but just not in a dedicated forum. We have become replete with empty or near empty subfora because some people request that I establish one. I have done this with speaker manufacturers etc as per member requests but there has never been any contribution by the manufacturer. Do you honestly think Bruce Brisson or Karen Sumner are going to contribute anything here. Now lets look at Shunyata as jap has pointed out. Caelin is not only a member but a regular contributor here in his forum as well as commenting elsewhere throughout the board as does Grant Samuelson. Similarly do we also have allvinyl making regular comments about Stillpoints. Now let's take the requests I got from Dan D'Agostino that he wanted a forum here at WBF and agreed to participate. He never has nor has Mark Levinson who asked me to start a subforum and that he would contribute as well.

Long and the short of it, I am prepared to always help a manufacturer if they will contribute regularly to their subforum. Some do but most don't. Creating a subforum in the manufacturers forum is easy. The difficult part is getting the manufacturer to participate.

Any other comments

Steve, I have to admit that I was not aware that the manufacturer's forum required the participation of a company's representative. I had mistakingly thought that that section of the site was for very popular brands to facilitate discussions among members that was centered around those particular brands, i.e. Wilson, Shunyata, Stillpoints, while the generic forums (eg. speakers, amps,etc.) were for more general discussions and not necessarily brand specific. I guess I did not understand the distinction. Thank you for the clarification.

 

[microstrip]

(...) Long and the short of it, I am prepared to always help a manufacturer if they will contribute regularly to their subforum. Some do but most don't. Creating a subforum in the manufacturers forum is easy. The difficult part is getting the manufacturer to participate.
Any other comments

You already said the most important and critical part.

 

[microstrip]

There is also a considerable difference in price between balanced and single ended cables.

Fortunately they do not have different speaker cables for single ended or fully balanced amplifiers ...

 

[Frank750]

Fortunately they do not have different speaker cables for single ended or fully balanced amplifiers ...

Yes but they can always charge you more for bi wire

 

[MadFloyd]

I have the Anaconda Zitron speaker cable on its way to me from the Cable Co and I am going to compare it to my Transparent Reference XL. I also have a pair of Anaconda Zitron interconnects.

Unfortunately I can't do a 100% Shunyata path as I need a long run from preamp to amps and CableCo doesn't have anything more than a meter. Hopefully I will get an idea nonetheless.

 

[analog brother]

you can order any length you want.

 

[MadFloyd]

you can order any length you want.

Yes, I'm aware of that - if you're buying. I want to demo - not blind-buy.

 

[analog brother]

ok - maybe temporarily set up your pre and one digital source close to your amps to try some different brands?
xlr shouldn't lose too much over long runs.

 

[MadFloyd]

ok - maybe temporarily set up your pre and one digital source close to your amps to try some different brands?
xlr shouldn't lose too much over long runs.

I *should* do that, but it's a bunch of work because my digital source involves a PC & DAC, ethernet connection etc. What I think I will try is replacing the long Transparent single ended with a Burley XLR cable (Pass' own inexpensive brand of cables) to make sure there is no Transparent in the chain.

 

[Mcbrion]

I have had most of the Transparents, going back to Ultra in 1994, then the Reference (NOT the XL) and then years later, got Shunyata's Andromeda (then top of the line 2003), then has, in my cable closet, Gemini, Goertz Alpha Core and Transparent Super MM1 simultaneously. Then bought the MM2 speaker cable years later when they came out, as well as Shunyata's ZiTron Python (current).

Long and short of it is that the Shunyata is faster and more vivid. Transparent's forte is a very rich mid bass at the expense of some 'jump' (at least up to the MM2 cables, which were astoundingly non-grainy, especially compared to MM1 more akin to Shunyata than previous generations). Shunyata was more open at the top (Karen Sumner might call it 'brighter' as she has said about Nordost's line) and a bit more dynamically nimble.

If there are no other iterations past MMs, then that assessment stands. The current Shunyata Python has a fuller bass than the Cobra if you want that. Cobra, with really, really good equipment, can be quite dazzling in the mids and highs and the mid bass has good weight, but still seems just a bit light. Not a complaint, merely an observation. By comparison, the MM2 would seem to anchor the presentation a bit more, but the Shunyata is more transparent thru the bass and lower midrange and quite, quite dynamic.

 

[MadFloyd]

I have had most of the Transparents, going back to Ultra in 1994, then the Reference (NOT the XL) and then years later, got Shunyata's Andromeda (then top of the line 2003), then bought Gemini and Transparent Super simultaneously. Then bought the MM2 speaker cable.
Long and short of it is that the Shunyata is faster and more vivid. Transparent's forte is a very rich mid bass at the expense of some 'jump' (at least up to the MMs cables, which were astoundingly non-grainy, more akin to Shunyata than previous generations). Shunyata was more open at the top (Karen Sumner might call it 'brighter' as she has said about Nordost) and a bit more dynamically nimble.
If there are no other iterations past MMs, then that assessment stands. The current Shunyata Python has a fuller bass than the Cobra if you want that. Cobra, with really, really good equipment, can be quite dazzling in the mids and highs and the mid bass has good weight, but still seems just a bit light. Not a complaint, merely an observation. By comparison, the MM would seem to anchor the presentation a bit more, but the Shunyata would be more transparent thru the bass and lower midrange and quite, quite dynamic.

Thank you for your response. I have tried Shunyata (as well as MIT) and I mostly agree with your observations.

 

[Steve williams]

Thank you for your response. I have tried Shunyata (as well as MIT) and I mostly agree with your observations.

I can't comment on Transparent but I can say Mcbrion's thoughts on Shunyata are spot on with the newer cables being better still

 

[edorr]

I replaced transparent reference MM2 with all top of the line shunyata signal cable just to try it out. Sold the shunyata. Very fast and dynamic, but less "musical" to my ears. I now use MIT all around, because I use spectral amps. If it was not for spectral I would have stuck with transparent.

 

[MadFloyd]

I replaced transparent reference MM2 with all top of the line shunyata signal cable just to try it out. Sold the shunyata. Very fast and dynamic, but less "musical" to my ears. I now use MIT all around, because I use spectral amps. If it was not for spectral I would have stuck with transparent.

Yes, Shunyata is very fast and musical but somewhat recessed in the midrange compared to Transparent. However, it is much cleaner than Transparent - which has some graininess and is colored and rolled-off in the extremes.